


A Christmas Masquerade

by tevlek



Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: F/M, Masquerade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 05:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5527925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tevlek/pseuds/tevlek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marianne attends a masquerade with Dawn and finds Bog hiding away from the festivities.<br/>My Strange Magic Secret Santa Gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Christmas Masquerade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [StrongerThanAnySword](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrongerThanAnySword/gifts).



Dawn could have put a Disney Princess to shame in the dress she had picked out for the Christmas Wish’s Masquerade party. She looked more like she was a floating pink and gold cloud rather than a woman with actual legs under all those ruffles when she walked. Marianne had to stand back and just watch her for a moment when she practically glided across the parking lot towards the steps leading up to the sprawling mansion that also doubled as the town’s public library. There were dozens of other people already ascending the stairs in various costumes, suits, and gowns of different makes, shapes, and price ranges no doubt. Everyone put forth what they could to attend this overzealous charity Christmas party.

Marianne had dressed up as well even though she was mainly there to act as chaperone to her flirtatious little sister but while Dawn had clearly splurged on her outfit, Marianne had resorted to recycling. She had spent the afternoon digging through the attic until she fished out an old prom dress that hadn’t seen the light of day in nearly ten years. Back when she first wore it, she remembered being fifteen and barely filling it out but wanting to make a statement to impress Roland. Tonight, while she hadn’t really cared about the results of reusing the old dress, she had to admit that she looked pretty good in it, though it was a bit unnerving to be strutting around in a one-shouldered sequin-crazy sheath dress with a slit up to just above her knee. Marianne’s typical choice was comfort, not class.

“Dawn…I have a stupid question to ask you.” Marianne said carefully as they started up the stairs towards the front of the old mansion. She hesitated on one of the steps when her drive fizzled out and inside she wanted to slap herself for being so fidgety tonight.

“What is it?” Dawn tilted her head to the side, the feathers of her mask following the tilt of her head and bobbing in the breeze.

“Do I look…okay?” she arched an eyebrow but the gesture was probably well concealed by the metallic butterfly mask shielding her face. On the other hand, her voice made her trepidation clear where her face could not. Her hands touched at the sequins wanting to smooth down her dress but they scratched and pricked at her palms, making them still again before she continued her fidgeting.

Dawn stopped ahead of her on the steps, looking down at her while putting her hands upon her hips. Her eyes scanned over her with a firm set to her lips but Marianne couldn’t make out much else from her face through the lace and feathers. Her fingers drummed over the flare of the ruffles until she folded her arms, one hand rising until her fingers brushed pensively beneath her chin. The set of her mouth relaxed and she smiled softly down at her, coming down the steps until she was one above her.

“Marianne, you look amazing.” She said gently. Marianne remembered the last time she had asked Dawn how she looked. She had been getting ready for the rehearsal dinner and asked Dawn in a moment of frazzled nerves. At the time, Dawn didn’t seem to know what to say because she had no idea what Roland really felt for her. Neither did she. This time, however, Marianne was nervous about the dress for another reason and the reassurance put her at ease enough to concede to moving forward, their eyes fixed on the building looming ahead of them.

The Graeme house, which was the venue for the charity’s Christmas Masquerade, was over a hundred years old if not more and had housed the town’s public library for nearly half of its existence. Marianne had spent many days after school getting lost in the aisles for hours on end. She had a partiality to books as a kid and even into her early teens. Of course, she had a phase when books were more like a means to kill time when Roland wasn’t there to keep her company. It wasn’t a time in her life she looked back on very fondly now but she was on her way to recovery. Well, recovered enough to dive back into the safety of books as long as there was no romance to be found in them. A feat that was practically impossible for her to accomplish because everything has romance in it! It was hard to narrow down favorable selections until her sudden friendship with the librarian, Benjamin Graeme, or Bog as he preferred. (Apparently his middle name started with an ‘O’ which made his whole name into a convenient acronym that his family used to address him by and the name stuck.) He really knew his stuff when it came to what the library had on its shelves and always seemed to know exactly what books would appease her loveless preferences.

The grand entrance of the mansion was well lit with a large bronze chandelier with glass bowls supporting yellowed bulbs to illuminate the high ceiling over the guests’ heads. There were Christmas decorations hung from the walls, garland draped along the dual staircases that led to the upper levels of the library while a red carpet was laid out to lead the way through the foyer and into the massive chamber where the main library had been shaped from the guts of the center of the mansion. Marianne saw more ribbon and garland draped over bookcases and electric candles flickering in sconces that were once bare. The stain glass skylight in the ceiling of the vast library was under lit around the molding, creating shapes in the ceiling and giving the glass a pale gleam that softly highlighted the colors.

The crowd for the masquerade was all over the place, masks of hundreds of shapes and colors turned right and left. Dresses were slipping in and out of view down aisles and there was a vague classical song playing over their heads, drifting towards the ceiling and bouncing back down to the public. Across the room was another stairwell that was previously blocked off with velvet ropes and now the doors at the top of the steps were open. Dawn eagerly led the way towards them, leaving the books behind with little interest while Marianne followed behind her with a solemn glance back towards her comfort zone being left in the dust. Surely she would have a chance to browse tonight, right? They were in a library after all.

“This is so exciting!” Dawn squealed, tugging on her hand and Marianne nearly tripped over the hem of her dress. She planted her feet to force Dawn into a stop and the blond pouted back at her until Marianne strode up the steps until she was standing by her side. Signaling they could continue again without her being towed around like a jalopy after a truck, they climbed up the rest of the way. Past the doors was another length of red carpet decorated in gold threads that steered them to the left and down a wide hallway, Marianne hearing a swell of music that signaled they were getting closer to their destination.

Through the double doors was a ballroom that, while not as massive as the library itself, it was a very close competitor. It was an oblong room crafted with dark walnut-stained wood with floor to ceiling windows draped in scarlet curtains held back by holly-wrapped golden ropes. There was a massive Christmas tree at the far end of the room that groups of people were admiring and taking pictures by with a live orchestra set up on a risen platform not five feet from it, all of them dressed in black with white masks decorated in music notes. The dance floor was filled with people dancing between made-up awkward shuffles to actual people waltzing to the music, though Marianne could bet there would be bodies clashing on that floor by the end of the night.

Bog had mentioned that the house had a ballroom but she never thought it would be open to the public. Bog hated parties after all and it had been a complete shock when the announcement came that Griselda had given the Christmas Wish Foundation permission to host their party there this year. In her experience, convincing Bog to let them have the event there must have been similar to pulling teeth unless he was just as weak around his mother as Marianne was with Dawn. It was because of Dawn Marianne was even there to begin with.

Marianne looked down at the hardwood floor, noticing how dark and light woods were used to create a random pattern under their feet when Dawn nudged her, drawing her attention back to the crowd. She noticed a woman in a golden dress that looked like it was straight out of the 18th century; her mask was gold and shaped much like a goblin’s face with two horns elegantly crafted to extend from the upper corners of it. Marianne had to watch her a little while before she realized why Dawn had pointed her out. It was Griselda, Bog’s mother and the reason behind tonight’s party. 

“Hi!” Griselda called out in her familiar scratchy voice, strutting over in a clip-clop of heels that looked like they might have already been hurting the poor woman’s feet. Dawn worked in the same circles as Griselda, making the two of them good friends to the point where it was almost dangerous to leave them alone together. Marianne kept close.

“Hi,” Dawn grinned, going to her and wrapping her arms around the woman’s neck. “This place looks great!”

“Thanks, I had some help, of course, but I think I did pretty well for setting this shin-dig up on such short notice!” Griselda stated, placing her hands upon her hips and peering about the room with an appreciative nod of her head.

“You did a good job,” Marianne commented, glancing over at the tree draped in golden garland and countless ornaments. When she looked back to Griselda, however, she noticed that she was watching her with a secretive smile. “What?”

“You’re Marianne, aren’t you?” she pointed at her before folding her arms, fingers toying a bit with the lace on her sleeve. Marianne pressed her lips together, eyes darting to Dawn for an explanation but she shrugged her shoulders, looking just as lost as to why she was being singled out.

“Well, it kinda goes against the rules to say who we are until midnight at these things but…yeah, I’m Marianne.” She said cautiously, watching the woman’s smile grow a bit bigger.  


“My boy’s told me about you. Says you’re the only woman in this town he can tolerate longer than two minutes.” Griselda chortled; Marianne felt a bit of pride swelling up in her chest at that moment and was relieved the mask sheltered her from the blush probably staining her cheeks. “That’s pretty impressive in my book. You wouldn’t happen to be single, would you?”

Marianne stamped out the giddiness before it gripped her completely as she held her hands up, fending off the question. “I am but I have no interest in dating anyone.”

“Marianne’s off men.” Dawn sighed, Griselda rolling her eyes even though Marianne glared at them.

“Oh, that’s too bad.” It didn’t sound like Griselda was really put off by the information at all. Marianne inwardly groaned. “Well, Dawn, I hope you have fun tonight and we’ll definitely catch up in a bit but I’m afraid I have to go keep up with the hostess bit. Toodaloo!”

With an enthusiastic wave, Griselda bustled off to continue greeting the guests and Dawn waved back until she was out of sight, tucking her arm around Marianne’s and they wondered away from the entrance further into the fray. They were careful to keep moving while checking out the costumes for the evening. Even though it was a small town function, people had put in a lot of effort to dress up for the party. Sure there were some cheap masks like she had seen in the parking lot but there were also elaborate ball gowns with animal themes like peacocks and butterflies. There were men dressed in suits with masks from popular culture like the Guy Faux mask and a Batman inspired one with pointed ears. There were some long-nosed doctor masks and half masks like in the Phantom of the Opera as well.

It all seemed to blend together rather well. Marianne didn’t feel like she stuck out in her old dress as much as she had before, putting her previous discomfort to bed but even if everyone seemed to meld together in this masquerade, she still felt like she should have spotted Bog by now. Even if he was dressed up like the others, his height and thin build should have singled him out from the rest of the crowd. Marianne had been positive that he wasn’t safe from his mother’s pestering if it came to this ball. Then again, he was an adult and maybe giving permission for the party to be there hadn’t included forcing him to participate in it as well. Neither Marianne nor Dawn could find him sulking on the outside fringes of the dancers or hiding in the shadows of the curtains like they expected him to be doing so.

“Maybe he didn’t come?” Marianne didn’t like how disappointed that sounded coming from her own mouth but Dawn didn’t seem to catch on.

“I guess this isn’t his sort of thing, but I’m glad you came with me, Marianne.” Dawn wrapped her arm around her waist and gave her a half hug. Marianne dipped her head in against her sister’s hair before they parted again. “Do you mind if I go dance? I’ve been wanting to since we got here and—“

“Go ahead.” Marianne nudged her with her hip as Dawn’s grin broke out in full bloom. She pointed two fingers at her eyes then at the eager blond, “but I’ll be watching you.”  


It was Dawn’s turn to roll her eyes before she practically ran over the join the growing mass of dancers. It was obvious there weren’t enough men in attendance let alone any who knew how to dance but Dawn found a group of girls goofing off in the center of the dance floor she easily mingled with them, dancing to the music of the orchestra that sounded like some kind of classical alternative to a popular pop song. Without her sister beside her, Marianne retreated to the windows, leaning against the sill while watching her sibling like a hawk.

It took a few songs to come and go before Marianne began to feel the full weight of boredom starting to settle in. Masquerades could be visually appealing but once you got an hour into the experience, the mystic of it all seemed to wear off. Especially to someone that hardly even wanted to be there in the first place. She had yawned several times by now, leaning further into the wall and fidgeting with the holly on the ropes or counting ornaments on the Christmas tree across the room. Unlike Bog apparently, some people had to attend whether they wanted to or not.

If she didn’t have to keep an eye on Dawn, she probably could get away with looking around in the library to kill time. She could find a book and sit down then just read until midnight when the masks came off. Once that happened, Dawn would probably lose steam once the novelty of the masks was over and they could go home. She glanced up at her sister still dancing with the group of girls to another song, some of them jokingly waltzing together to the music while she threw her head back laughing at the silliness of their exaggerated steps. The sight of her enjoying herself drew a smile across Marianne’s lips.

At least someone was having a good time.

“Psst, Marianne!” She jumped at the voice and looked around until her eyes fell upon a short man with a blue mask. She squinted down at him, realizing it was Sunny when he winked a brown eye up at her with a little chuckle behind the full-faced mask.

“Sunny! What are you doing here?” she glanced up at Dawn but she hadn’t noticed his arrival yet. “I thought you had to work tonight and couldn’t make it!”

“I got off early so I came here in case you needed help with Dawn.” He explained, his voice muffled by the mask.

“Well she’s out there dancing, if you didn’t expect that already.” Marianne nodded towards the dance floor.

“Yeah, I figured that would be what she was doing.” He chuckled, “I’ll go say hi to her.”

Marianne nodded, “Keep an eye on her for me, okay? I’m going to go down to the library and kill some time.”

“Got it.” He gave her a thumbs up before heading for the dancing crowd. Marianne lingered in her spot, watching Sunny slip through the people until he was behind Dawn and tapped her on the shoulder. Dawn turned around before she squealed and threw herself at her friend who easily caught her with open arms. It was something he had mastered with years of practice.

Sunny was a childhood friend of the family. He and Dawn had been thick as thieves since Dawn’s sixth birthday party when he brought her a unicorn toy with blue hair instead of pink like all the other toys she had been given that day. Since then they had been the best of friends but unlike most pals that grow together from children into the awkward teenager phase, neither one of them started dating the other even though it would have made sense. Sunny clearly loved Dawn more than anything but Dawn was so wrapped up in her boy crazy phase that she didn’t even realize she had a great candidate right in front of her.

Maybe one day.

Marianne followed the red carpet back down to the library, fingers tracing the edges of shelves while she scanned over bindings and read printed titles in passing. There were few books she could really enjoy these days. Most Young Adult novels had romantic elements she had no interest in and she steered clear of the romance section. The children’s books were safe but too basic for her taste and nonfiction got old really fast. It was times like these that she needed Bog around. He would have been able to pluck a book that suited her needs right from a shelf with barely a glance in its direction.

“Where are you, anyway?” she murmured, glancing at the odd person passing by here and there.

The distant music of the masquerade followed Marianne wherever she went. It hung in the air while she browsed and she tested how long she would be able to hear it the farther she moved away from the stairs. Eventually she was following the back wall near the lesser used books. Some of them were untouched encyclopedias that lost their use back in the late nineties thanks to the birth of the internet. She counted out eight dictionaries and six thesauruses before the shelves ended, the bookcase broken by a door marked “office” that she had passed countless times over the years but never taken into account as important. This was the first time she had seen it open, even if it was just a crack with a bit of light seeping through the gap.

Sidling up the opening, Marianne peeked inside and saw a desk covered in papers and several books stacked precariously near the edge. One novel was roughly plopped on top of one of the stacks, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake. Marianne smiled at the sight of a long fingered hand, not realizing how she grinned when she saw someone stand up from behind the books, stretching impossibly long arms over their head with a dry sigh she knew all too well. He cracked his neck with a twist of his head before his arms relaxed and Marianne knew she had found him.

Pushing the door open, Marianne stepped into the office, noticing bulletin boards against one wall with odds and ends pinned to the surface while the other wall was covered in binders and books on a shelf that were probably all important. The messy desk had an old computer sitting on the end but the screen was dark but there was a green lamp on center of the desk that was on. The fluorescent lights in the ceiling were out and there was a bit of a yellow glow from a streetlight outside pouring in through the window. Once inside, Marianne closed the door behind her and Bog sharply turned around at the sound. His entire body was tense and hands hovered at his sides as he looked at her with an obviously displeased sneer at the sight of another masked guest.

“This room is off limits to the public.” He frowned, hands falling to his sides as he relaxed enough to straighten back into his ‘authorative librarian’ stance he often assumed around guests in the library. “The ball is upstairs.”

“Are you implying I can’t figure out where the masquerade is?” she frowned, folding her arms and his shoulders drooped a bit.

“Marianne,” he sounded relieved, “I didn’t know it was you.”

“Masks are meant to do that,” she tapped hers with a little clink of metal before she approached the desk. “I didn’t see you up there so I wondered where you were hiding.”

“Ah, you know how I am about parties.” He waved a hand towards the corner before scratching the back of his neck. “I was up there long enough for the welcoming speech the chairman gave and then I came down here to get some work done.”

Marianne noticed that he had waved at a coat rack in the corner with a tricorn hat askew on the top and a highway man coat hanging from one of the elegantly carved pegs. She glanced at him and he groaned when she suddenly moved around the desk and straight for the coat rack. He watched her as she observed the coat, marveling at the feathers around the shoulders and collar that she ran her fingers through thoughtfully. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw him shiver before he cleared his throat and busied himself with pushing his chair back into the desk. Marianne yanked the coat off of the hook. “I’ve gotta see you in this!”

“No!”

“Bog, just put it on one more time. I didn’t get to see it!” she came towards him and he jumped back a little spastically, stopping her in her tracks. She stared at him, puzzled by his rather sudden reaction to her nearness and took an experimental step closer, resulting in him moving another step back, fingers stiffly extending then curling in again at his sides.

“Fine, give it here.” He snatched the coat from her hands and she grinned even though his rather distant behavior did raise a few questions in her mind.

Did she make him nervous?

She hadn’t realized it until he was slinging the coat around himself but Bog had been wearing a black waistcoat over a yellowing shirt with black trousers tucked into riding boots. He put on the coat, the black feathers shifting then splaying out before he moved past her to the coat rack and grabbed a mask that had been hanging underneath the coat. Marianne hadn’t noticed it there but he put it on wedging the hat on his head with a growl before he turned around and held out his hands in an exasperated presentation of the costume. His mask was a crow’s face, the feathers on the coat now making sense as he turned in a little circle before his arms thumped down against his sides.

“It looks great,” she gave him two thumbs up, coming forward to get a better look at the mask. He flinched at first when he noticed her reaching for him but when she stopped he shook it off. Marianne tweaked the end of the beak with her fingertips with a snicker that he matched with a low chuckle. The crow costume had been a rather clever idea.

“It got a bit of attention, I’ll admit that.” He said, reaching behind his head to untie the laces of the mask once more.

Marianne watched it slide from his face, her chest tightening when his eyes peered over the top of it. The gesture seemed to slow down the moment she met his gaze over the mask, clear blue eyes staring past it at her even though moments ago they had been laughing over this costume. She swallowed, watching him blink down at her before his gaze dropped to his hands, twisting the mask around. Perhaps it was just her but tonight the air around them had a rather awkward feel to it compared to their typical meetings. Like they were dancing around some subject that neither one wanted to bring up. Bog turned and hung the mask back up but he didn’t remove the costume, merely wrapped his hand around one of the hooks on the rack, glancing over at her.

“I didn’t think you would come tonight.” He admitted.

“I didn’t want to,” Marianne admitted, resting her hand on the corner of the desk and averting her eyes. “But Dawn wanted to come tonight and I needed to keep an eye on her. I would be still if Sunny hadn’t shown up.”

They both lapsed in to silence, Bog still lingering beside the coat rack and Marianne hovering near the desk. Her fingers touched the corner of it, glancing at the piles of books then back at him. She didn’t understand why she was suddenly feeling so dry mouthed and fidgety around him. Normally they interacted rather casually, Bog talking to her about books, letting her vent about her father’s inability to get over Roland, or plotting the burning of the romance section. So what happened? It wasn’t like she liked him or anything.

…or did she?

“Since you’re here…maybe you could help me out with another book recommendation?” Marianne suggested hastily. Her voice piped up so suddenly it startled both of them after the long silence and Bog nearly knocked the coat rack over in his momentary spasm. He laughed wryly as he steadied it, maneuvering around the desk to the front of it.  
“Sure,” he gave her a wide berth when he walked around her and started looking through the books.

Marianne frowned at his blatant avoidance but what caught her interest more was the fact that he hadn’t led her back out into the library. Instead, Bog was looking through the books piled on the desk. He lifted stacks of five books each, checking the titles before setting them aside to look at more. Marianne decided against questioning his search, letting her gaze trail over the desk where books hadn’t cluttered it. She pushed a pencil across a clear spot with her finger, noticing a ledger open with a few scrap papers scattered over what looked like a list. She brushed them aside, checking the titles of books listed. Oddly enough, the first few she read were all books that she had read. Her finger trailed down the list, each title belonging to a book she had previously read and every one of them having been suggestions he had made to her.

When she realized he had been making lists of books to recommend to her, Marianne’s eyes darted up to him. She didn’t realize he had grown still during her snooping. Bog was frozen with one hand holding a book while the other was steadying a pile. His gaze dropped to the list under her hand and back into her face, wide and hesitant under the brim of the tricorn.

“Are…all of these from you trying to find options…for me?” she asked, her fingers trembled a bit over the list.

Bog averted his eyes. “There aren’t very many books that view love as bleakly as we do, Marianne. So, I wanted to try and find what I could so that you would always have something to read whenever you came.”

“Bog,” she breathed, his eyes timidly rising back up to her face. A smile broke through the surprise, Marianne genuinely touched that he had been trying to plan ahead all this time. “That’s…really nice of you.”

Even in what low light there was she could see a fine blush across his cheeks at her statement. He reached over to hand her the book in his hand but when she reached for it, she laid her fingers over the cover and slowly pushed it down, leaning a bit further over the desk. His confusion died quickly in light of uncertainty. He was hunching in on himself, shoulders drawn and chin tucking in. The posture of a man who didn’t like where this was going.

She was over thinking his kindness. He didn’t want whatever it was she was feeling and she was making him uncomfortable.

Embarrassed, Marianne drew back again, taking the book from him to make up for her momentary lapse into stupidity when his hand caught her wrist. Neither one of them moved or spoke, merely watched one another in the heavy atmosphere weighing down upon them. His expression was warring between different emotions, none of them certain and Marianne tried to break the spell by glancing around the office. Something to lighten the mood, change the subject, distract them from whatever it was that was happening. She looked towards the ceiling for some kind of cosmic answer as to what she should do; only when she looked up, she spotted something that held the blatant answer.

She snickered at first, trying to resist the humor in it but eventually broke into a fit of laughter. Bog gawked at her as she laughed, Marianne shaking her head and pointing up over their heads. He followed her finger and balked at the sight of a sprig of mistletoe hanging over the desk, a red ribbon cheerily tied around the top and pale berries beckoning for the age-old tradition to be carried out. The sight of it inspired a bark of laughter from her companion and Bog soon joined in her laughing. She didn’t realize she was laughing so much until tears were running under her mask.

“Mistletoe.” She breathed between laughs, untying the ribbon and removing the mask to wipe the tears away. Bog’s hands touched at her cheeks, his thumbs wiping the tear trails away while Marianne smiled at him across the desk. She set the mask down and splayed her fingers across the ledger, supporting herself as she leaned in a bit closer to him. He rolled his eyes at the mistletoe and she knew it hadn’t been his idea to hang it there. It must have been the work of someone else, someone much more cunning than either of them had apparently given them credit to be.

 _“Mother,”_ he growled it out like a curse and pulled Marianne in until his lips pressed against hers.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry that I didn't contact you to try and work out specifics for this story. Things were kind of chaotic and I just started writing without thinking.  
> I hope that you liked the story and I also hope that you have a Merry Christmas!


End file.
